


Dark Light

by Saber007



Category: Bayonetta (Video Games)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2018-07-11 12:56:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7052689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saber007/pseuds/Saber007
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Light and dark were never to intersect, yet it happened. Not one, but two lives were created from their union. How could Balder take their son, and Rosa their daughter, but never be together? Life was cruel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Vestibule

"In your wickedness, you have broken the ancient commandments and crafted a bond with one of the light. Our laws are clear. They demand you be eternally imprisoned. As for the impure children, the girl must be kept from the path of the dark arts forever and the boy shall go with the light dwellers." A voice decreed.

Within the highest tower basked in moonlight, the fate of two children had been decided. The Grand Witch had passed her verdict.

The two twins would never know the joy of a complete family. They would always be torn apart and separated.

The parents who were like night and day could do nothing but stand and hold each other hoping that what they were experiencing was nothing more than a nightmare. A nightmare that they would awaken from. But as they saw the two sides of their worlds, one of light and one of darkness coldly staring them down they knew they would receive no mercy.

The room that was filled with people began to fade away to the two parents. Knowing that they would soon be parted, both Mother and Father held on tightly to the other and gazed into the sweet faces of their newborn children. One boy of light who had the angelic face of a cherub and one girl of darkness who was as red and sweet as a rose.

The beauty of the children brought tears to the mother's eyes. She knew that she would have to let go of her son and lose the very man she loved with all her heart.

The world could truly be a cruel place.

Suddenly, the two parents were separated by the very people they viewed as brothers and sisters. Wanting just a moment more together, the parents desperately held onto the other's hand, trying to defy everything that dared to keep them apart. All that mattered was that they deeply loved one another and wished for nothing more than to be together as a family.

Both man and woman shouted and screamed for the other, declaring their love to world and hoping that light and dark could be one. But forces beyond them saw them finally broken apart. The man of light was forcibly dragged by his brothers out of the room to be taken back to his home where he would punished for his crime. The woman of darkness was forced to watch her beloved light taken away from her while her sisters chained her up like a dog and escorted her to the lowest level of tower where the dungeons were to become her new home.

* * *

Long since erased from the records of time, there once existed two European clans who served as overseers of history for the powers that be: The Umbra Witches, dwellers of the darkness, and the Lumen Sages, controllers of light. The clans paid each other great respect, and their efforts to maintain the balance between them defended the just passage of time.

Yet, one day, that balance was toppled. The once harmonious clans fell into disagreement and stoked the flames of hatred against each other, resulting in an era of strife. The conflict between the Umbra and the Lumen threw all of Europe into a chaotic loop of battle, ambush, assassination, and casualty.

It was truly a gruesome war.

Despite the tremendous radiance of God shining upon them, the Lumen Sages were gradually weakened by the assault of the secretive dark witches. Years after the balance was lost, the war had ended in the Umbra Witches' favor. Their victory was short-lived.

Fearing the witches' dark abilities, humans began to condemn the remaining Umbra. They launched the witch hunts, rounding up the battle-weary witches with little resistance and subjugating those who wished to continue the struggle. Human faith in the miracles of their God pushed the witch hunts further, and soon the Umbra Witches, keepers of the darkness, were extinguished from the Earth.

All but one.

* * *

_The moon was eerily dull as if all the light had been smothered out. For the moment all was well within the realm of mortals._

_Within another reality in between the Trinity, commonly known as Purgatorio, the struggle between light and dark raged on._

_Brilliant lights of gold beckoned the arrival of the heavenly Laguna. An army of Affinities descended to chase after the two Umbra Witches that had escaped them on the crumbling clock tower._

_"Jeanne!". The Umbra Witch cloaked in midnight black robes, fearfully called out to her dear friend dressed in similar red robes._

_The explosion had pushed them apart into a downward fall towards the ground. The Midnight Witch couldn't bear the thought of losing her only friend and being left alone with the awful creatures attacking them. No matter how angelic the Affinities appeared with their golden halos and white wings, to her they would always be scary monsters._

_"I'm OK!" Despite her words and reassuring red smirk, Jeanne's fair face looked worn out. Even in mortal danger Jeanne had to portray a sense of confidence due to her upbringing._

_Luckily, Jeanne couldn't see her comrade's relieved smile. The Midnight Witch knew that if Jeanne saw her smiling she'd be put off by the ridiculous show of affection. Back to back as sisters of the dark, they pressed forward and faced the Affinities in a flittering dance of bullets and magic._

_"Let's go Jeanne! Just stay close to me!"_

**"Rise my child! Rise to realize your true potential! Unleash your power and awaken the Eyes of the World!"** The smooth, melodic voice echoed within the witch's mind and woke her up from her dream.

"Bloody Hell! Can't a girl get her beauty sleep without being disturbed by insufferable creeps?!" Rising from her grand bed made for a queen and pushing the drapping curtains out of her way, Bayonetta made her way to the bathroom, grabbing her cellphone along the way to see that she had a message from Enzo regarding a new job.

"Hmm looks like today is going to be a fun day even if I have to wear those dreary robes again." Bayonetta dressed herself in the pure white robes of a nun and chuckled to herself from the irony of the outfit as she exited her condo.

Although her entire body was modestly covered by her robes, all the males she encountered on her way to the graveyard couldn't help but admire the slow wave of her hips, the confident strokes her long legs made as she walked, and her beautiful face with a cute mole and striking gray eyes. Each one that Bayonetta caught staring, she made a point to wink at them, delighting in their embarrassment or in some cases their attempts to flirt back.

* * *

Elsewhere, high in the sky, a collection of followers of the Laguna gathered together in the hull of the carrier jet to preform their holy ceremony. In the shadows a woman in red gleefully watched the white robed fools preform their glorious form of butchery as they all stabbed themselves with knives.

They were a necessary sacrifice for the madame to achieve her goals. As their red crimson blood dripped to the ground, the men found themselves transformed into the holy sentinels of Paradiso. No longer were they mortal men, but Angels of the Affinity.

The canon folder Angels would serve the madame well.

* * *

Enzo's annoying chirping made it hard to concentrate on the words Bayoinetta was saying, but his incessant chatter came to an end when the grey sky turned gold from the rays of light. The depressing graveyard brightened considerably.

It was time.

"I see them. They are instruments of God, descending upon his heavenly rays to Earth. Dear Lord, grant us guidance and keep safe the souls of our loved ones for all eternity." Bayonetta muttered.

While poor Enzo was in the background screaming, she used her magic and opened a portal to Purgatorio. Bayonetta didn't want the mortal world getting trashed. Once she crossed over, the shimmering lights turned into Affinities, the Laguna's lowest level of Angels.

The creatures were small fry even with their big lances and swords, not even worth Bayonetta's time. But they sure were fun to play with. Dancing around the Angels, she couldn't help but laugh as her gentle playing included smashing them into the ground and throwing them around.

Bayonetta liked playing rough.

Little Enzo was scrambling around the graveyard, trying to avoid the hazardous battle. Suddenly, Rodin decided to crash the party by arising from his hole.

What an entrance the big hulk made.

He scared off the angels with his booming voice and terrorized poor Enzo by threatening to find the little man in Inferno for his never ending debt. Rodin did all this while leisurely smoking a cigar.

Typical Rodin.

Smashing the angels around was starting to get boring for the witch. One could only do so much with their bare hands.

"Do you naughty little angels deserve a good spanking?" Bayonetta taunted.

The drooling scoundrels had ripped up the witch's robes in the process of their battle, leaving all her lovely assets exposed to the world. Shedding off the ruined outfit, Bayonetta felt her magic humming throughout her body like a fire. Black hair elongated to cover her nude body and form the Umbra Suit. Like a catsuit, the witch's hair clung to every crevice of her body in shades of black and red with the prized golden, Umbra Watch sitting snugly above her breast.

Now it was on.

Needing a proper weapon for the battle, Rodin threw her his latest toys. Four Guns. A few shots and a few kicks with the guns caused the them to break.

The cheap things didn't even last long.

"Now this is cheeky, throwing me these cheap toys!" Bayonetta's glare didn't even seem to faze Rodin.

"Don't worry about quality. I've got quantity!" He just pulled out four more guns and tossed them to the witch.

Thus began tango of Bayonetta shooting and kicking with the guns until they busted and Rodin threw her replacements. Eventually, he ran out of replacements and threw her a cherry flavored lollipop in apology.

By now the Angels figured out they were fighting a losing battle, so like little children, they ran off with a screeching Enzo as their hostage.

Ah, Enzo just couldn't stay out of trouble.

Bayonetta managed to save him at the cost of his new car.

"You have any idea how much this is going to cost to fix!? How the fuck do I always get wrapped up in this shit!?" Poor Enzo was laying on top of his car crying over its impending remodeling.

If Enzo weren't so pathetic at times, Bayonetta might actually find his situation sad. Alas, Enzo's antics were just too amusing. Bayonetta checked on the car before turning the engine on.

"Engine still purrs nicely. Now, about this little thing you've been looking into for me, Enzo. Let's have a quick chat…" She fluttered her eyes at the man.

* * *

Silently, a young hooded man watched the woman known as Bayonetta drive off into the city. The man radiated the same heavenly brilliance as the Angels. Raising his gloved hand, the man opened a portal to Paradiso.

"We shall meet soon." He promised.

As the man entered the portal a stream of gold and violet feathers were left in his wake, the only reminder that the ghost-like man was ever there.

 


	2. Blondes and Planes

Roaring down the road like a charging horse, was Enzo's beaten up red cruiser with its two occupants chatting away. Legs propped up and back arched, Bayonetta looked eerily like a mischievous black cat, but instead of nipping away at milk she was nipping at her favorite rose candy.

"What a day! I'm screwed! It's gonna take every cent I earned on this charade to pay for the damage... I tell you what, if I could see them bastards that did this to my car, fuggetaboutit!" Enzo could only try to fix the car, but his efforts only worsened the car's quality after his mirror fell off.

Bayonetta almost felt sorry. It was a nice car after all. Her pity turned to mild annoyance after Enzo almost caused numerous accidents from not paying attention to the road during his rant.

"Enzo. The road? Pay attention, dear." She said sweetly, forcing Enzo's face back onto the road and saving them, or rather him from a collision with another car.

It'd take more than a measly car crash to kill a witch like Bayonetta.

"How can you be so calm!? You're still getting screwed in all this, too! Of all the lowlife scum in too deep in this town, I've never seen one get wrapped up in a fight with God's messengers. Dressed like a nun, too. When you end up in the afterlife, that's not going to be pretty!"

Aww, he was still upset about her putting his life in danger.

When will Enzo learn, imminent death was a part of the job description. Along with sexy outfits and kinky toys. Anything else just wouldn't be Bayonetta's style.

"20 years ago, you woke up stuck in a casket at the bottom of a lake. All you can remember is that you're a witch. But now you're stuck, because you've gotta sacrifice out halo-wearing friends everyday or they'll drag your ass back down to hell. I know I thought I got screwed, but bein' forced to slap around the divine for a livin'? That's really getting screwed!"

The reminder of my amnesia brought an instant scowl to her face.

"If I needed a biographer, you wouldn't be my first choice. I see to the funeral, you get me the information I asked for. That was our deal."

Not knowing who she was or where she came from, bothered Bayonetta deeply, but so far she couldn't find any clues to her forgotten past.

Who knew? She could probably have a family just waiting for her in some mysterious place.

The only thing Bayonetta really knew was that she had to fight the Angels that would appear before her. Something inside of the witch just wanted to destroy them. To hurt them. Perhaps in another life those creatures wronged Bayonetta and her desire for revenge carried over.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

"Come on now! Look at my poor car! I'm working for free after this. At least let me get a drink at Rodin's before you start drilling me. The info I got is good. It's gonna get you close to finding the other stone in the pair, and figuring out some of that lost past of yours. I swear. After jewels instead of cash! Just like a girl!"

Already annoyed by his previous comment, Bayonetta was ready to push the little bugger out of the car and into the road.

Before she could go ahead with that plan, Bayonetta noticed something in the rear view mirror She saw a large object coming towards the car at an incredibly fast pace. Turning around, the witch saw that the object turned out to be a bloody plane.

"Huh? What the fuck!?" Enzo screeched.

All his screaming really was going to destroy Bayonetta's hearing.

Jumping through my portal for the second time today, Bayonetta was surrounded by even more Affinities, but it wasn't the them that caught her attention.

No, the woman that was standing beneath her, or above her, whichever it was seeing as the Witch Walk defied logic. The woman was using the same magic as Bayonetta to remain on the broken plane door sailing through the air. Adding on to Bayonetta's confusion, the little bugger even fought Angels in a similar manner as her.

Dancing around them like they were amusing toys, shooting and kicking bullets everywhere, the fighting was a reflection of Bayonetta's style. The woman even used four guns! Two guns in her hands and two on her legs.

If Bayonetta weren't so annoyed right now, she might have been flattered to see another woman taking after her so much.

As the woman landed, Bayonetta finally got a look at the tart's face and what she saw shocked her.

"What's the matter, Bayonetta? All that sleeping made you soft?" The woman's voice was as silky and condescending as the twin-bun woman dressed in red from Bayonetta's dream.

The similarity caused a mild ache in Bayonetta's head.

This woman's face also looked the same as the witch from her dream. Bayonetta remembered a pale, aristocratic maiden with light blonde hair, blue eyes and high cheek bones. Her exact opposite.

Circling one another, the woman looked like they could be mirror inverted reflections. The only way to tell if they were reflection was to battle.

"Let's dance!" Bayonetta announced.

As if in sync, both woman sprang forward with their guns blazing.

How infuriating the battle was for Bayonetta! Every move she made was replicated by the woman. The woman countered every twirling kick she launched. She countered every bullet Bayonetta fired.

Bayonetta hid her irritation with an arrogant smile. "I must say this is the most fun I've had in some time."

Her comment was met with a bullet to the head instead of an answer.

"Not very chatty are we?"

As payback Bayonetta back-flipped out of the way of another bullet while shooting at the woman, using her leg guns. The move stunned the woman enough that she had backed off.

As if they needed an interruption, a flock of Affinities decided jump cut in.

Bayonetta shared a look with the woman and somehow they both came to the same conclusion.

Perhaps she wasn't a complete tart.

Together, Miss Ruby Blonde and Bayonetta demolished the cannon-fodder. Fighting beside the woman felt so natural to Bayonetta. They both just seemed to melt into a rhythm while fighting. Spinning on her heel, the black witch turned and faced her new "frenemy", intent on getting some answers. The words died in Bayonetta's throat though as a truck came hurtling between them.

As someone would expect when dealing with a mysterious assailant like Miss Ruby Blonde, she had disappeared.

Bayonetta sighed and jumped back into the mortal plane. She grabbed Enzo and threw him back into his red convertible.

"That girl..." She trailed off, frustrated with the unexpected encounter.

Thinking about Ruby Blonde brought back a fuzzy memory of being stabbed in the chest. The image gave Bayonetta a headache.

Today's trouble had worn her out. It was time for a Mysterious Drink at Rodin's.

"Drinks are on you tonight Enzo!" She proclaimed. Walking back to the car, Bayonetta resumed her original place and slouched in the passenger's seat.

"Aw what the fuck...I need a drink after today's shit!" Enzo groaned. He started the car back up and cruised back to Rodin's bar, wishing he'd just gone home early and had a normal birthday with his kids.

* * *

"You'd do well to stop acting on your own Witch." A deep voice warned.

High above on a building, stood the blonde witch and a hooded figure. With each step the man took towards the witch, he left a trail of purple and gold feathers.

"And you'd do well not to threaten me Sage!" The woman hissed. In response to his hostility, the witch raised her gun towards the sage and prepared to fire.

Before a bullet could even leave the chamber of the gun, the man suddenly appeared in front of the witch. His hand firmly wrapped around her delicate neck. The gun fell to the ground and the woman struggled to breathe.

"If it were not for my father you would be dead, rotting in the Inferno along with your demons, you filthy Witch! But fear not, very soon there shall come a day where I will have my vengeance on you. For you shall burn in a fire much hotter and brighter than any have seen." Finished with his furious rant, the sage tossed the witch into a portal he had opened.

Looking back towards the sunset, he thought of the black witch that was so close, but still out of reach. The sage brushed away one of his stray feathers.

"Hurry Bayonetta. Hurry and awaken to who you are. I don't want wait any longer..." The harshness of his tone had evaporated into a morose tremble.

The sage watched his feather be taken away by wind before entering the portal he'd created.

* * *

Below, the feather had fallen onto the ground, catching the attention of a snow-white haired man. He stopped looking into the glass window to admire the feather.

Curious, the tanned man attempted to pick the feather up, but it disintegrated just as he touched it, almost as if the feather was rejecting his presence. He waved it off as a trick of light and walked into the tattoo shop, hoping to get rid of the obnoxious hourglass birth mark on his forehead.

 


	3. The Angel's Metropolis

"So, I asked around, and some whale in Europe is trying to fence a huge rock on the black market. He calls it the _Right Eye_ , saying it's part of some set called _The Eyes of the World._ Fits the bill of what you're after, don't it? Now here's the funny bit. The stone passes around the halls of power for hundreds of years, vanishes, and then the black market goes white hot for the thing. But the seller wanted an arm and a leg for it, to the point no one could stomach the price. So back goes the stone. But not before everyone figures out where the guy is! You're gonna enjoy doing this one I bet. I love stickin' it to the rich. Of course, when you do, don't forget your old buddy Enzo stuck his neck out on this one. Slide me a few fazoles out of the rich guy's pocket for my troubles, right!? Anyways, you better get going before the trail gets cold. Off to the middle of nowhere. Paradise of Europe. Vigrid."

* * *

Elsewhere, a little girl moved a toy figurine of Bayonetta across a map.

* * *

Bayonetta set off into the middle of nowhere in search of an exotic jewel she believed could help her regain the memories she'd lost. For some reason "The Eyes of the World" just tugged a certain string in her chest. It beckoned her to come and find it.

The first step however was to get her hands on the "Right Eye" within Vigrid.

While sleeping through the long plane ride, Bayonetta had a strange dream of a little girl playing with a little boy in a very dark room. They were playing with a pair of raggedy stuffed-toys. The dream left her feeling oddly depressed.

After all the trouble she went through to get to her destination, Bayonetta better find something worthwhile in this annoying, holy city, known as Vigrid or there would be hell to pay.

**"So, you have arrived at last, my dear. The time has come to awaken _The Eyes of the World_. Fear not, my dear child. Such a beautiful young lady you've become. I'll always see to it no harm comes to you."** The same soft melody of a voice echoed in her mind, but this time Bayonetta was conscious and not dreaming.

If she were a normal woman the witch might consider going to see a therapist about strange men whispering in her mind. But abnormal occurrences were a known commodity for witches. Still, the voice wasn't her imagination, which meant that the voice must belong to someone here in Vigrid.

It seemed Bayonetta would find some answers here after all.

Exiting off the train, she sauntered on through security with ease. Being within the realm of Purgatorio made traveling so much easier and it was always amusing to see the little humans fearfully scamper around because of some minor explosions or gunfire on Bayonetta's part from within Purgatorio.

The witch soon found herself facing some odd door or wall, she couldn't exactly tell.

"The sphere embedded in the wall is emitting a wondrous light and resonant sound. Getting closer to it makes it glow brighter. It's as if it has some sort of ability to respond to a witch's power built in." Bayonetta surmised.

She inspected the object, giving it a nice kick to see how sturdy it was. Rather than collapsing like expected, the door/wall glowed a radiant gold and some of the blocks had moved.

Ah, so this door/wall liked it rough. Bayonetta could respect that.

"Well I'd be more than happy to smash my heels into its shinning face." She giggled maliciously.

A rapid series of kicks from her pushed the blocks forward and allowed the witch to enter the next room.

Strangely enough, the room had a grave for a witch inside. Within the grave was a very large key that was used by Bayonetta to smack around a few Affinities and open the next door. In the next room she saw a crystal statue of a Lumen Sage and a shattered statue. There appeared to be no way of crossing over the moat that impeded her way.

"This is starting to feel like I'm playing some game of puzzles."

To prove her point, a group of Affinities emerged from Paradiso. Bayonetta's guns made quick work of them.

Hmm the lovely little guns Rodin gave her were actually proving quite useful compared to the recent toys he'd given Bayonetta. Sauntering over to the statues, she closed the Angel's portal with a sexy kiss, which caused the second statue to repair itself like magic.

**"Lumen Sage and Umbra Witch. When their powers meet in a test of strength, the lightning released will be your test. If you wish to walk upon water, prove your mettle by dodging the lightning in a single hair's breadth."**

More odd voices.

This time however it wasn't the regular voice Bayonetta had been hearing in her mind. This voice sounded much younger and playful.

A test of strength was it?

With a snap of her fingers, the dark magic of **Wicked Weave** activated, causing two large hands to lift the statues up from ground. The movement of the statues caused a bolt of light to strike down where Bayonetta was standing. She managed to dodge it at the last second.

Being fried to a crisp was not on her agenda.

Activating the magic again, Bayonetta used **Witch Time** to flip backwards and avoid the attack. An idea occurred to her then. Keeping the flow of time from moving, the witch sprinted across the water to the other end. Once she landed, the magic cut off like a switch.

Looked like that was her final challenge for that area.

Another one of those odd door/walls stood before Bayonetta. A few punches seemed to shatter the structure, but it reconfigured itself into a circular disk that levitated off the ground. The witch jumped onto the disk and it propelled upward, taking her out of the ruins and into civilization.

Thank goodness for that. Another awful challenge and she might've just destroyed the whole sodding building! A Lady only had so much time to waste.

After exiting the ruins, Bayonetta encountered Rodin, reclining against the bottom of a flight of stairs.

The man just loved to make an entrance.

"Some places in this world are closer to Paradiso or Inferno. The rathole of a town you and I live in is close to both, but the Vigridians got this special air about 'em. They're closer to Paradiso than anyone should ever be. And that shit just plain creeps me out. Heh, I guess I'm gonna have to set up shop here and score me some halos. These stupid rings are worth a fortune back home. Since it seems you're spoiling for a fight, if you come across any of these, bring 'em to me and I'll hook you up." He proposed.

"Another one looking to line his pockets. Huh, I'm beginning to see why Enzo is so fond of you." Bayonetta's comment seemed to annoy Rodin.

"Real cute. But let's get one thing straight, your fights are yours alone. I'm only here to watch my handiwork in action. So don't get any bright ideas about coming to me for help." Rodin put the halo he'd been playing with into one of the never-ending pockets of his duster and walked back towards the **Gate of Hell** he'd come through.

He thought so little of her, did he? She'd put him in his place.

"No, you get one thing straight. I'm not the slightest bit interested in the fact that you made these guns. If you get in my way, I will, how do the Americans put it? Oh, yes. Bust a cap in yo' ass." Bayonetta walked behind Rodin and casually pointed a gun at his back.

"Right on, baby! Right on!" He cracked up in amusement over her attempted crack on American Culture. Rodin went on through the portal. His laughter echoed throughout the hallways.

Making it outside for the first time in days, Bayonetta found herself walking through a beautiful was right, Vigrid truly was close to Paradiso. Beauty of this stature could only be found in a city like this. Walking in front of the fountain, she looked into the clear water, expecting to see her beautiful reflection. Instead, Bayonetta saw the face of a young man with hair of the silver moon and eyes of the blue sky. The reflection smiled at her, revealing a beauty mark beneath the man's lip.

The man's face struck a chord in Bayonetta. Was he apart of her past?

Her hand hovered over the image. A ripple in the water caused his smiling visage to fade away. She looked closer, hoping to see his face again, but only saw her own reflection.

Perhaps, Bayonetta imagined it.

Feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, she whipped around with her gun ready.

A hooded figure in white and gold stood in front of Bayonetta. His figure shimmered with a pale blue light, meaning he wasn't in the realm of Purgatorio and his features weren't fully visible.

It was just a mortal. He couldn't see her.

Something about him though made Bayonetta's insides churn. Her magic was reacting funnily. The darkness couldn't seem to decide if it wanted to burst out and destroy this person or recede quietly back into her. Wanting to get a closer look at him, the witch walked towards the man, not expecting him to notice. As if in response to her actions, the hooded man raised his hand.

The grass around Bayonetta began to grow into pretty pink and purple flowers. The witch recoiled.

Did the mortal cause the flower's appearance?

If this were a normal situation, Bayonetta might have been flattered that a man literally bombarded her with lovely flowers. This however, was not normal. No mortal should have been able to affect the two realities of Chaos and Purgatorio like this. The witch's admiration of the flowers came to end when a giant Angel fell from the sky.

Concerned for the man's safety, she looked back for him, only to find him gone.

"What it is it with all these strange fellows appearing and disappearing out of nowhere? It's so impolite." Bayonetta complained while adjusting her glasses.

The roar of the Angel brought her back to reality. This beast was nothing like the fodder she'd been dealing with.

A **Third Sphere Beloved,** an actual challenge. Bayonetta would enjoy massacring this holy fool.

* * *

**The Beloved**

_Keep on Dancing Baby!_

* * *

Wasting no time, the Beloved swung its giant axe down at Bayonetta, hoping to cut its target clean in half. Dodging to left at the last moment, she activated **Witch Time** and swung on the axe to kick the imbecile straight in the face.

When time returned to normal the giant went tumbling down and dropped its axe. Feeling naughty, Bayonetta touched the blade of the axe and used a bit of magic to shrink the weapon to a more manageable size for her to use.

The giant was enraged to see its enemy using its divine weapon and swung its arms at Bayonetta. She laughed at the impromptu game of whack a mole. All that was missing was the mallet. The witch nimbly dodged all Beloved's attempts to flatten her into a saucy pancake.

Running behind the Angel, Bayonetta prepared to slice him with the axe. The plan was harder to execute since the witch had underestimated the weight of the axe. The laspe gave Beloved the chance it needed to grab her.

Bollocks!

"Oh you naughty boy. This isn't how you treat a lady. Let me show you what girls like me do to rude men."

Channeling her magic, Bayonetta spun around in rapid circles and her hair strands flared out with dark energy, striking at Beloved. The attack stunned the big guy and left him completely open.

This time the witch swung the axe with more gusto and lobbing off Beloved's arms and legs.

"Now to feed you to the demons. _Avavago_!" Bayonetta chanted and channeled more of her magic into a final attack.

The **Wicked Weave** activated, summoning the demon, **Gomorrah**. The dragon appeared in a swirl of black and purple weaves of hair. Once it set its sight on Beloved, the dragon surged forward, chomping on the Angel with no remorse. The sounds of Beloved's final screams and Gomorrah's vicious chomping was music to Bayonetta's ears. The onslaught of Gomorrah's attack continued until the Angel exploded in a shower of blood and light. Satisfied with the carnage from its meal, Gomorrah returned to the Inferno with a screeching howl.

Bayonetta hummed. "That was quite lovely to watch."

She collected the multiple halos and even the curious disk that was left behind by Beloved.

* * *

Emerging from behind the fountain, the hooded figure bent down to pluck a pink flower.

"You are strong dear one, but you must grow stronger yet. For the _Eyes_ shall never awaken while you still slumber, unaware of who you truly are." He sighed brokenly.

The hooded man looked into the fountain and saw his own blue eyes tiredly looking back at him. He had lost so much over the years. Time and fate were not kind to him.

**"My dear, sweet child, you must show her the path to awakening. Open your heart and allow the past to intersect with the present. For the future is lost without the Eyes of the World."** The familiar melody of a voice entered the man's mind and calmed his turbulent heart.

Past and present.

His past was bloody and filled with strife. So was hers.

The path of the Umbra was always a dark one. He'd rather not fill Bayonetta's mind with those horrible images, but those were the only ones that she had been responding to. The others he tried to show her were always blocked out, as if she couldn't accept them.

It was almost like she only wanted to bear pain. She would not accept the precious moments of joy he tried to grant her. The precious moments they shared...

**"Fear not my child, she will find her way back to us. For all the pieces are in play and it is time for the pawn to make its move."**

The other Umbra Witch.

The man would rather just get rid of that vile woman and be done with the dwellers of darkness and moonlight.

In response to his dark thoughts of striking the red woman down into the Inferno, he felt his mind being filled with an ugly screeching noise akin to nails on a board. Clearly, the man's violent thoughts were not appreciated.

**"In time you shall have your vengeance my child, but now is not the time. She has a purpose and she will fulfill it before we are rid of her."**

The noise stopped and the presence of the melodic voice disappeared. The hooded man was left alone.

Dropping the pink flower into the fountain, he walked towards the relic wall Bayonetta had walked through and placed his hand on the resonating stone. The man guided his magic to the tips of his fingers. He felt the energy flow like a river throughout his body. The stone turned from purple to gold and harmonized with the light magic being pushed into it.

"Come Bayonetta. Come back to the days of old. Of dark nights and wars of Angels and Demons."

 


	4. Men, Angels, and Kids...WTF

 

Elsewhere, a girl moved the toy Bayonetta from Vigrid Station to the Holy City of Vigrid on the map.

* * *

"The abnormalities never seem to end." With an exasperated sigh, Bayonetta side-stepped a flaming ball of fire that had just tried to kill her.

One moment she was walking through the garden, the next she was dressed in these old dusty robes, standing in the middle of a battle. All around women were dressed in the same manner of robes as Bayonetta and were running past her, fighting The flying Angel with two dragon heads attached to the main body's face. The thing was floating around in the sky raining flaming fire balls at the witches like it was a game. One witch grabbed Bayonetta and dragged her along.

"What are you doing!? Let's go!" The witch shouted.

They both went for cover behind the rails to escape the onslaught of fire. The heat made Bayonetta sweat underneath the suffocating robes. Feeling the fire stop, both the witches started shooting non-stop at the Angel, hoping to kill one of the dragon heads before they could start firing again. Quick as whip though, the red dragon extended its long neck and opened its jaws, taking one of the fellow witches into its mouth.

Her screams terrified Bayonetta and she fought harder to survive.

"Watch out!"

She was pushed off to the side.

Time seemed to move slowly. Bayonetta could see the witch's terrified face as the dragon's teeth came nearer and nearer to her. She reached out to her and managed to grab a hold of her arm. Just as time seemed to drag, it suddenly quickened.

The creature's jaws tore at her body with such force that when the dragon's head pulled back Bayonetta fell down, clutching the bloody, severed arm of the witch she tried to save. The sight shocked her to the core. Fearing that her time had come, the witch gazed up into the Angel's face to see the dragons aiming another fireball at her.

Resigned to her fate, Bayonetta could only think about the family that she'd never get to see.

"Mummy save me!" She pleaded as the tears wouldn't stop pouring out.

Coming out of the hallucination was like being tossed into a deep sea and resurfacing, desperate for air. The motion sickness Bayonetta felt made her want to hurl. She had to steady herself on the wall.

She didn't know what happened or what that was, but it felt too real. Bayonetta could still feel the heat on her skin from the fire. The abrupt tears on her cheek ruined her makeup.

Bayonetta took a moment to regain her wits before pressing forward.

Bridges did always make her nervous and after the vision she just had, Bayonetta was weary of crossing one. The thing trembled from the falling rocks. The rocks blocked any escape she could have made.

Now who needed to escape when they literally had a creepy crawler coming after them?

Crawling on the cliff like a spider was another one of the divine instruments of Paradiso. Only this one liked chucking rocks instead of fireballs at Bayonetta.

Unlike her counterpart from the vision, she had no problem fighting and even chucked her very own rock at the creepy crawler. Bayonetta supposed the creep got tired of her because it threw the bridge with her hanging on it across the valley. Abandoning ship before it crashed, the witch jumped off the broken bridge, landing on a flight of stairs on all fours like a cat.

Coming back for more, the crawling creep smashed another bridge while trying to reach its prey.

Annoyed with the persistent thing, Bayonetta kicked it off the edge of a platform. While the creature was hanging on for its life she decided to summon Gomorrah to finish the dreadful thing off.

While her hair was creating the form of Gomorrah, the cheeky little monster tried to cop a feel.

Bayonetta knew she was delectable, especially while under dressed because of the magic, but trying to touch a lady without her permission was just plain improper. Smacking the impertinent thing's hand away, she told Gomorrah to go ahead and give it good smack for its transgression.

Delighting in her request, Gomorrah violently smashed the Angel into the wall, silencing any further movements from the creature and splashing blood and gore all over the wall. The lack of a fight let Gomorrah easily slide its food the down its throat.

"How tacky, I'll have to teach Gomorrah some better table manners. He simply splashes his food all over the place." Bayonetta grimaced.

Avoiding the blots of gooey liquid and miscellaneous objects proved difficult for her. The pretty new heels the witch sported had stains all over them now.

The shoe dilemma was put on hold as she felt a tug on her magic.

Looking up, Bayonetta saw the moon come out, but more importantly a motorcycle on top of a flock of Affinities was heading towards her. Once the bike landed, her eyes locked with the woman from the previous day. Spurring the engine on, Ruby Blonde made a great show of running over all the Affinities and hitting them with the rear end of her bike. In a way it was funny, but jokes aside Bayonetta wanted some answers from this woman.

"Fancy bumping into you here. Out to find some answers about your past, are we?" The woman breezily inquired. She looked down on me with a condescending smirk from the side of the building.

Magic.

This woman had to be like Bayonetta and she appeared to know her.

"You've quite the familiar face. And using the same powers. But you'll have to forgive me, do we know each other?" Bayonetta questioned. Hands on her hips, she started pacing around in anticipation of getting answers.

"Same powers!? Don't make me laugh. Your little dip in that lake has left you a bit rusty."

So Bayonetta was a joke to her? This woman was moments away from getting a bullet in the face for her smarmy trash talk.

"I've been high and dry for 20 years now. The only rust on me is from the lack of any real challenge. Perhaps you're up for the task."

Perhaps a good fight will loosen her lips and peg down that ego. Bayonetta's fingers were itching to grab her guns and fire.

"You've already disappointed me." Turning and sneering at me, the woman toyed with a golden in watch in her hands.

Looking down, Bayonetta saw that mine her's was missing. Violent thoughts of punishing her with one of her torture attacks entered her mind. Wanting it back, the black witch sprang towards the red one. Expecting the reaction, the Ruby Blonde threw the watch into the air. Pissed at her mistreatment of Bayonetta's most prized object, she landed on the woman's bike and fired a rain of bullets on her, only for the blonde to evade by jumping off the bike and grabbing the watch midair. She landed back on the bike.

"This is a moment I have long desired. But you've forgotten your destiny and wasted the past 20 years." The annoying blonde continued to wave the watch around in Bayonetta's face as if teasing her like a cat. Until she tired of the game and threw the watch back.

The black witch caught in it and put it he watch in its rightful place on her chest. Glaring at the woman through her glasses didn't seem to intimidate Ruby Blonde at all. The blonde mocked Bayonetta by pulling out a compact mirror and fixing her make up. Her unwavering confidence was really starting to grate on Baynoetta's nerves.

"You're right, I do seem to be having trouble remembering things of late. Would you be so kind as to take it from the top?" Bayonetta's honeyed voice seemed to have appealed to the woman after the fop decided to grace her with an answer as she was reapplying blush and lipstick to her face.

"Two overseers... The Eyes of the World. They are the power behind everything." Despite the nonchalance she tried to radiate, the words she spoke were heavy with an air of severity. Looking the black witch directly in the eye, the blonde thinly smiled maliciously.

Her face began to fade as Bayonetta felt something pushing its way into her mind.

Within the room the Umbra Elder stood in her imposing black robes, facing down the same woman from Bayonetta's dream. The blonde woman stood apart from all the other witches in the room including Bayonetta. She could only see the back of her, but every time the blonde moved, the twin buns on her head twinkled from the jewelry connected to her wraps. Her robes were of bright crimson, reminiscent of blood and rimmed with gold accents and jewelry.

How fitting since she would probably be covered in someone's blood after this ritual was over.

"Jeanne, as heir to the clan, the time has come for you to prove your right to fight under the Umbran name. You may select any opponents of your choice." The elder's voice rang loud and clear in the room, leaving no room for argument.

The entire Umbra clan had gathered together to witness the mantle of leadership being passed down to the Umbra Elder's granddaughter. Everyone had been expecting this day since the day Jeanne had been born. For the elder had been unable to produce a female heir herself. She had only birthed males.

Males were useless in the society of darkness. The best they could hope for would be minor apprenticeships with older witches in order to become assistants or alchemists. The birth of her sons left the seat of the Umbra throne empty until the elder's first-born son had a baby girl with his wife, their Jeanne.

Now Jeanne's destiny would truly begin. To prove her worth she had to defeat in combat, a witch of her choice. Usually one of the elder's apprentices would be chosen as a combatant.

"Then allow me to face the outcast." Jeanne's answer had caused an outrage among the witches. All the witches were either yelling or cursing at me.

Why would Jeanne do this, she knew this wasn't allowed. Jeanne's just trying to get Bayonetta in trouble again. She couldn't be serious!

"No! It is forbidden! The child is of impure blood. Challenging her would be a violation of our tenets of faith!" Echoing Bayonetta's thoughts, the elder instantly refused Jeanne's request. The blonde however, would not take no for an answer.

"It would not be the first time we have faced each other."

Oh no.

Jeanne just had to tell the elder that. Bayonetta swore that Jeanne must've likes seeing her get into trouble. She really was a sadist at heart.

Ignoring the cries of the elder and the other witches, Jeanne walked over to Bayonetta and stood her ground.

"Will you face me in this hallowed arena?" Jeanne's voice didn't waver at all. In the face of all the shouting and screaming, Jeanne looked completely calm and serious.

Thinking of how her brother would act in this situation, she put on a brave face.

"Well if I must, but I pray you've got a little something for me in return. You know, I'm very fond of stuffed animals." The words felt odd when Bayonetta said them but she tried to keep an air of confidence in front of Jeanne.

Like her brother said if she wanted to stop being the black sheep, she'd have to stop acting like it.

Awakening from the vision, the black witch was extremely disorientated. She expected to see that aggravating woman, only to see the glowing light of the moon.

"Jeanne…" The witch's voice was a mixture of confusion and sorrow.

Bayonetta didn't understand what she was feeling.

The light of the moon sang to her. Its luminous light made the magic in her body tremble and grow. The witch felt more powerful than ever before. Using **Witch Walk** , she climbed up the broken building and shakily moved on.

Only for a group of flying cherub faces to attack.

Could a girl get a moment to herself?

Recognizing these monsters as another **Third Sphere** known as **Dear and Decorations,** Bayonetta pulled herself together and drew on the power of the moon to rejuvenate herself for the battle.

* * *

**The Dear and Decorations**

_Come on baby, one more dance_

* * *

The red cherub angel split its face in four and shot molten fireball at Bayonetta. Dodging the attack activated **Witch Time** and gave her the edge she needed to shoot the smaller decorations out the air by allowing the itch to roll into a hand stand, bending her legs forward and spraying bullets all over. For the red Dear, Bayonetta jumped high in the air and aimed her descent at the angel. Nearing the monster's head, she twirled and used the leg guns to continually smash the Dear into the ground with bullets until it disintegrated into lights.

The pathetic fight was over before it even started.

Now that the fight was finished Bayonetta felt her magic rapidly returning to its normal range. Feeling the moon's rays disappear, the witch ran to to the other end of the building before the clouds could cover the moon entirely. After she reached the end of the building Bayonetta cast off the wall just as the clouds covered the moon. Letting gravity do its work, she fell to earth like a dark angel and landed on the ledge.

It was a nice landing.

A little further out and Bayonetta might've fallen into the ocean and broke her pretty neck on those jutting rocks.

Kicking open the large doors, she walked down the winding the street, noticing the two statues of the Sage and Witch again. At the end of the street the witch came across one of those odd door/walls again.

Bayonetta sighed at the absurdity of everything. The wall received a combination of punches and kicks. Like expected, the wall opened up, but then it closed again far to fast for her to pass.

She would need to be faster to get through.

Figuring this was like the previous challenge from the ruins Bayonetta headed back towards the statues and used Madame Butterfly's arms to lift the two statues. As the statues were lifted bolts of light came crashing down towards her. The witch evaded all of them at the last second and time slowed down with the activation of **Witch Time**. Making it back to the wall, the witch crashed into it with a powerful punch and used the momentum to race inside the wall before it closed and the magic ran out.

* * *

"Stop!" The security guard screamed.

He was chasing after a suspicious man who was quick on his feet. Said man was racing in between alleyways and people trying to escape from the persistent security guard. The most noticeable thing about the man was the curious blue scarf hanging from his neck and whipping through the air.

While running away the blue scarf man ended up bumping into a man carrying a bouquet of flowers, causing the fluorescent pink flowers to go flying through the air. Normally, the scarfed man would have apologized, seeing as the man was probably bringing those flowers to a special lady, but unfortunately he was being pursued.

"Ah!"

This time he had really done it. He bumped into a woman.

This time the scarf man had to take responsibility, no matter the consequences. Stopping and turning back around, he casually walked up to the woman while fixing up his clothes.

"Do you believe in fate? Fate brought us here together, and it will never tear us apart." The man recited.

Pulling his hood back, the man's wavy brown locks that were half up in a ponytail and half down, came flying out of his hood. He pushed his scarf back towards his shoulder. His light blue eyes locked onto the woman in front of him and he was astounded by her beauty. The young man had never seen anyone as beautiful as this angel.

The woman's hair looked like it was spun from pure gold with the way it was reflecting the sun rays. And her eyes, man her eyes! Those eyes looked like they were trying to decide if they should be completely green or blue. The combination created a pretty shade of aquamarine.

There was no freaking way the man could pass this gorgeous woman without getting her name.

Before he could ask for it though, that annoying security guard came charging at him and forcing the two apart. The poor guy had too much momentum and ended up falling flat on his face.

What a sucker!

"So my angel what's your name?" The scarf man winked before leaning forward and noticing that she had a cute mole beneath her eye.

The woman looked up at him in confusion. Seeing the guard getting back up, the man started backing up, intending to make a run for it after he got this maiden's name. In anticipation, he kept backing up, but kept his eyes on the girl.

He had to get her name.

"My name is Sigyn, but sir, you should stop walking…" The woman said.

A sweet voice too.

Sigyn really was an angel, even if she had a strange name.

Not paying attention to what she said, the man crashed into a wooden structure and fell to the ground with everything falling on top of him.

"What the hell?! Where did this shit come from?" He muttered.

Not wanting to look stupid in front of this woman, the man jumped up. He grabbed a rose and threw it to Sigyn to cover up his humiliation. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the guard coming after him again and sprinted off.

"Damnit! I said stop! I'm authorized to use deadly force! Fuck! Where'd that bugger go!?" The guard yelled.

An incoming car covered the scarf man's tracks and gave him a couple of seconds for a head start while the guard stood around looking for his target.

"Sayonara! Fate will bring us together again, you beautiful angel, Sigyn!" The scarf man cried. He raced off into the street swinging my arm up to use a wire to escape.

Time to continue his pursuit for a certain bitc..he meant witch. That word was no way for a man to refer to a woman, no matter how wretched the woman was.

After the man jumped down onto another street his laughter from the guard's antics stopped as a wave of perfume hit him. This smell was one he had engraved into senses from when he was a little boy after what happened to his Dad.

The smell brought back bad memories despite its sweet smell.

" _Fleur de Cirey, Eau du Parfum_. Such a wonderful floral bouquet, with its subtle hints of Rosemary. You know, in the language of flowers, rosemary equates to remembrance. Which doesn't quite equate to you, now does it, Bayonetta." The man casually remarked in spite of the boiling rage surfacing in his chest.

In another reality Bayonetta remained cloaked and out of sight.

He could swear he heard chuckling. The man threw off his borrowed robes to reveal he was wearing a brown coat. He pulled an object out of his pocket, hoping to catch Bayonetta off guard. Since he couldn't physically see her he pointed the camera towards a mirror and got a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror. He saw that she was standing right behind him.

The abrupt sounds of gunshots in the air scared the shit out of him.

"Shit woman! Will you stop that?!"

Turing around in fear the man quickly inspected his chiseled body to see if he was bleeding from any gun wounds. Thankfully, he was unharmed.

Think of all the girls back home that'd be upset to see an Adonis like him damaged.

"That little bug on Enzo was a nice touch. Seeing you here, I suppose it wasn't the only one. You've certainly bloomed, haven't you, my little Cheshire puss?" The voice the man heard was sultry, but he couldn't see anyone.

Jumping back, he felt something touch his arm. The feeling was weird and cold. Almost unnatural.

"I'm not your pet. The name is Luka. A name you better remember." His voice went from being playful to aggravated.

It was alright when Luka was playing these games, but when she started doing it, it really pissed him off. Especially since she could never get his name right and had the balls to refer to him as some cat.

Luka's tone must have pissed her off because next thing he knew, she tripped him. A sign then came out of nowhere and almost crushed him. He barely managed to dodge the sign.

That really set him off.

"Shit! Damn it! Wait! You can't just run away from me like that! I know what I saw that day!"

Thinking back Luka could remember that day like it was yesterday.

_Luka was a little boy going on an adventure with his Dad. He only got to see him a few times throughout the year since Dad was always working and lived far away._

_Or at least that's what his Mom said._

_Mom didn't really like Luka spending time with Dad anymore, not after they got that "divorce thing". She thought he was a bad parent that filled Luka's head with silly stories._

_But the little boy knew they were real. They just had to be._

_Dad wouldn't leave him and Mom behind all the time if they weren't._

_Running so Luka could catch up with his Dad, he grabbed the older man's hand since it was really cold and dark._

_The little boy was scared of getting lost._

_"Don't worry son we're almost there. You'll see. We're going to find something magical!" Dad's voice was really excited._

_Luka hadn't seen him this happy before._

_Dad stopped walking once we reached a lake in the middle of the forest._

_"This is it! She must be at the bottom! Wait here Luka!"_

_The little boy sat down on a log while his Dad put on diving equipment so he could go swimming in the lake._

_Minutes passed with Luka sitting by himself._

_Dad had been gone for a long time now Luka really needed to go potty. He was cold and sleepy too._

_This adventure didn't seem so fun anymore. Maybe Mom was right._

_The sky got really light all of a sudden._

_Was it morning time?_

_Standing up, Luka ran to the lake and saw it bubbling and turning purple._

_"Dad! Dad! Dad!" He screamed._

_He ran around, trying to locate his Dad. The ground started shaking. Luka lost his balance and fell onto his bottom. The lights got brighter until the little boy couldn't see._

_But he heard his Dad's screams. Above in the sky, Dad was hanging in the air along with a lady glowing purple.  
_

_Luka thought she was really pretty, like a dark angel._

_The woman opened her eyes and Dad's screams got louder and louder until his limbs were torn off._

_The sky turned red. Everywhere there was red._

_Except for that lady. She was still glowing purple without a scratch or any red on her._

_"Dad.. Dad, where did you go?! Help me dad…there's red stuff all over. Dad!" Luka hiccuped, panicking from all the red liquid covering him._

"I know all about your kind. Sure, my colleagues laugh at me for chasing fairy tales, amongst other things, but I know they're real! I know the truth."Luka hissed.

That memory still haunted him to this day.

A feeling of dread overcame him and then he felt the wind shift.

"This smell... It's the same smell that clung to the air the day my father was murdered. Which means I'm right on your doorstep, Bayonetta!"

Luka pointed to where the smell was coming from. He could sense something was in front of him. The man heard another gunshot right next to him and jumped.

"I'll let you in on a little secret, Cheshire." That sultry voice filled the air again along with the sounds of gunfire.

Trying to keep out of the line fire, Luka sporadically moved around, hoping he wouldn't get hit with one of the bullets.

"The name is Luka." The rage in his voice was palpable.

Luka looked back to the mirror in hopes of seeing her. His hopes were dashed when a stray bullet shattered the mirror into millions of pieces.

"You need to hone your sense of smell, my dear. There's no rosemary in my perfume. After all, rosemary's a demon repellent."

With glass shattering all over the place, Luka ducked for cover. He could hear gunshots all over the place. Then the noise stopped. With no way of knowing if she was still there or if she left, all the man could do was shout.

"You only run away so fast because you've got something to run from... Me! But you can't escape me forever!"

Vowing to find her again, Luka ran off, using the wires again to escape before security got there.

Luka would never stop. Not until he avenged his Father's death.

Unknown to Luka, Bayonetta had been standing right next to him, hanging her head in silence.

* * *

"My goodness, she does like to cause a spectacle, doesn't she Nephew?" The golden haired woman Luka had previously met, walked into the square that was now empty.

All the people who had been there ran away in fear of the random explosions and gunfire.

Sigyn looked up and saw a hooded man casually sitting on one of the store railings. Her nephew floated down from the elevated height.

"This _Bayonetta_ likes a spectacle. Who she was before didn't like causing scenes like this. It would bring too much attention to her. Yes, she was very much a wallflower." The man's voice was faraway. Remembering something from a time long ago.

Walking around, the man used his magic to repair the minor damage done in the square.

"Aren't you hot in that cumbersome robe? Why are you running around in it in the first place?" Sigyn pushed some of the hair that had fallen into her face, behind her ear.

The man stiffened before flicking his wrist and removing the hood. Turning around, he faced his Aunt.

"I'm wearing my robes for the same reason you are dear, Aunt. So that my face is not recognized. Ghost like us are not supposed to exist in the realm of mortals. We are simply the Overseers of Time."

The deep voice her nephew had always seemed to clash with his feminine face. Her Nephew had silky, silver hair, with one long strand hanging in the front and sharp blue eyes.

"You are the spitting image of your father." Sigyn muttered running her hands across his cheeks affectionately.

She remembered when he was just a little boy, running around the house naked with his sister.

"I aim to be everything that he is. Speaking of Father, he wants you to return back to him. The awakening of the Eye shall commence soon. I will continue guiding Bayonetta back to us." Her Nephew gently pulled her hand off his cheek. He opened a portal that would take Sigyn back home to her brother.

"Be gentle with your sister, Cerezo. Or you might end up pushing her away, rather than bringing her in."

Sadly, there wasn't anything Sigyn could do to help them recover her. She walked into the portal, hoping that their precious girl would return to them.

They had already lost so much over the long centuries. The heart could only take so much pain and suffering.

Through telepathy, Sigyn could hear Cerezo promising to look after his sister.

* * *

The morbid encounter with Luka left Bayonetta on edge. Not even pounding away at the new rolling wheeled Angels, called **Enchants** and some more **Beloveds** seemed to cheer her up.

Though the witch did manage to find another one of those records the Angels were so fond of leaving behind. Rodin was sure to pleased the next time she saw him.

Walking through the town seemed familiar to Bayonetta for reason. She could picture herself walking these streets with someone.

Bayonetta's eyes were drawn to a little bakery. The shop triggered something in her.

_"Come on Sissy, you have to keep up if you want to get any sweets from the bakery!" A young boy with silver blonde hair and bright blue was calling out to her._

_Wanting to catch up to him, she ran as fast as her little toddler feet could go, but ended up stumbling and fell to the ground. Her knees were scratched and the new dress Daddy had bought her was dirty now._

_Why was she so clumsy?!_

_Feeling miserable, the little girl couldn't stop the hot tears from bubbling in her eyes and cascading down her pink cheeks._

_"My dear, sweet child, stop your tears. Daddy has you now."A gentle voice cooed.  
_

_The little girl felt herself being lifted off the ground. She saw her brother choking back unshed tears in response to her own. She pushed her glasses up and rubbed at her eyes to stop the tears so she could see Daddy with clear eyes. Turing in her Father's arms, she saw that warm smile and loving blue eyes that matched her brother's._

_Daddy's smile on his angelic face always made her feel safe and happy, just like Mummy's smile did. Even if Daddy wasn't smiling, he'd still look like an angel even with that funny, golden monocle on his right eye._

_He told her that one day when she was much older and bigger he'd tell her why he wore it even though he didn't need it to see._

_Blue eyes like the sky and flowing silver hair like the moon. Daddy and brother really were angels. They were nothing like her. The odd, dark haired child that was impure._

_"Now my dears, let's hurry along we wouldn't want to keep your Aunt Sigyn waiting, would we? She might eat the entire store by herself before we arrive." Chuckling to himself, Daddy picked her brother up and carried both his children to the bakery._

_The little girl's earlier sadness was quickly forgotten and replaced by joy. She never wanted her time with Daddy and her twin brother to end._

The memory was different from what Bayonetta had been experiencing.

It...had been nice. Bayonetta felt slightly better after seeing it.

It was infuriating how little Cheshire could have dampened her mood enough that her mind tried to cheer her up by supplying a cheery memory.

At the end of the road the witch ran into another door/wall and dealt with it the same way as the previous one. This one rebuilt itself into a bridge though. The bridge led to a large temple.

When she entered the temple, Bayonetta didn't expect anyone to be there, but she could hear the little pitter-patter of footsteps. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move behind the pillar. Walking over there the witch was surprised to see a little child. The child passed right through her since she was in the realm of Purgatorio. The witch created a portal and jumped through, landing in front of the little girl.

"Who's there? You've played enough hide and seek, my scurrying little friend." Bayonetta stared at the scittish girl. "Just a normal child? What are you doing running around Vigrid? You're certainly not dressed in your Sunday best." Inspecting the girl further, she gazed into a pair of innocent gray eyes.

"Hey get away from Sissy!" A high-pitched voice shrieked.

Something barreled into Bayonetta's leg. She loked down and saw another child with a whirlwind of silver hair.

"No don't hurt brother!"

Now the other brat was attached to her other leg. Looking into their faces caused Bayonetta to have another lapse into the past.

_The floor was so cold._

_The little girl didn't know how Mummy could stand being down here. When asked, Mummy said she couldn't leave because of the Elder's orders._

_Why couldn't Mummy stay with her?_

_The little girl curled up even further into a ball, trying to warm herself up and stop the tears.  
_

_"Are you cold Sissy?"_

_Her twin brother curled up next to her and wrapped his arms around her. With him beside her, the little girl felt much warmer._

_Her brother smelled like the sun. It reminded her of Daddy._

_"Oh my sweets. You don't have to come down here every night. I know its cold. Mummy won't be angry with you two if you decide to sleep in the room, where you'll be safe and warm." Mummy pleaded sadly.  
_

_She reached through the bars of the cell and tried to soothe her daughter's tears by softly petting her head. Mummy hated seeing them sleep outside her cell, but their was no other way for the children to be with their Mother. She wasn't ever allowed out of her cell and the witches made sure the children were occupied throughout the day.  
_

_"No, I want be with Mummy and brother together! You'll be all alone if we leave."The little girl cried out.  
_

_Touched by the little girl's kindness, the mother continued petting her child's head._

_"Mummy, will you sing that song again? It always helps Sissy sleep." The little boy drowsily asked.  
_

_Her brother was so sweet. He was always thinking of others before himself._

_He always tried his best to look strong for her too, but he wasn't used to the cold like she was and was shivering even worse than the little girl._

_Seeing the state of them brought tears to the Mummy's eyes. Reaching her other arm through the cell, she began petting her son's head as well while she sang the lullaby to help them sleep._

_**"Fly me to the moon and let me play among the stars. Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars. In other words…"** _

The vision ended.

The girl and boy were nowhere to be found.

Bayonetta guessed the higher-powers didn't want her to get lonely, so they sent her big shot Angels to keep her company.

The dragon head that came smashing through the glass caused another painful lapse.

_**"The Eyes of the World... The two overseers... What once was held in the hands of the witch clan shall now be held in ours!"** _

_Outside was chaos. The angels were attacking._

_Witches were scattered everywhere. Some dead, some alive, and some dying._

_This was worse than hell._

Coming back to reality, Bayonetta was overcome with inexplicably rage.

This Angel in particular she had a grudge against. The witch may not remember what it did, but it was going to pay with its life.

Heading back to Purgatorio, Bayonetta went on a full on rampage.

The dragon head pulled back after receiving a multitude of punches and kicks. It pulled the entire temple with it. Bayonetta hung onto the floor of the temple using **Witch Walk**. She saw the other dragon head shoot a fireball at her.

As the ruined temple was flying through the air the witch jumped off the floor. In a show of herculean strength, she grabbed the edge of the temple and flung it at the fireball. The impact sent her flying through the sky to an unknown destination.

* * *

Elsewhere, the Bayonetta toy sat on a burning forest.

 


	5. The Burning Ground

_Chapter 5: The Burning Ground_

* * *

"Are you the one to have awakened me from my heavenly slumber, my world of light, and summoned me into this world of chaos? The taint of the dark world is upon you. Yet you have made but a pact with the darkness in exchange for the powers of a witch. It was said that one such pitiful creature survived the annihilation. Tell me, my child. What is your name?" A voice boomed in its ancient language.

Crumbling rocks were falling all around Bayonetta. High in the sky floated the Angel that had haunted her dreams. The Angel had twin dragon-heads for arms and an obnoxious face in the middle.

The thing was not a looker.

"If I was your child, I'd be an awfully ugly witch, wouldn't I? Yours is a face only a mother could love, and one I could never forget. If only I could remember where from…" Bayonetta's voice sounded amused, but inside she felt a rising anger.

She walked along the ground and avoided the rocks as they were falling in slow motion. Stopping below the creature, the witch stood with a hand on her hip, waiting to see if the Angel would rise to the bait.

"Well then. My apologies. If you are not my awakener, then you and I have no quarrel." The voice of the Angel was calm as it prepared itself to fly off.

If Bayonetta wasn't feeling so confrontational she would have gone along with its plan and let go on its my merry way. It wasn't often that a witch ran into an Angel that wasn't hell bent on destroying her.

But Bayonetta was in a bad mood.

Wanting to get its attention back on her, she kicked one of the falling rocks like a soccer ball at the Angel's face.

"No quarrel? You're in no position to decide that. See, my infernal partners love my ability to eliminate your kind. I figure your sacrifice would shut them up for a while."

Pulling the guns out for a fight, the witch aimed at the flying dragon, only for the coward to turn tail and run back to Paradiso. Livid at the attitude of the Angel, Bayonetta stomped off. Or at least that's what she wanted to do.

Everywhere there were cracks and bolts of magma were shooting out.

The ground beneath Bayonetta opened up and pooled with magma. Worse, Affinities started coming out of the cracks and they were covered in flaming magma. Knowing that touching these creatures while they were like this would be detrimental for her skin, the witch ran through the collapsing clearing while shooting any Affinity that got in the way.

The heat was a wretched annoyance. Bayonetta's suit was not suited for this weather.

The witch continued to outrun the river of lava coming for her while avoiding the **Beloveds** that tried to cut her in half with axes. Outrunning the lava by jumping across the collapsed train path from earlier led Bayonetta back to the square with the bakery from earlier.

Unfortunately, the area was under fire as well. The square was further demolished by the battle with the **Second Sphere Angel of Fairness**.

Not in the mood for playing around, the witch dispatched the Angel in a matter of seconds by using her **Wheel Torture Attack**. The Angel was shredded to bloody pieces from the spinning wheel.

Things really got fun after Bayonetta ran around the corner and used the statues to help activate **Witch Time** so she could pass the geyser of lava. An explosion sent another river of lava after her, but this time she used one of the poor Affinities that had shown up as a surf board.

Oh yeah!

She struck a pose in the air on the makeshift surf board. Bayonetta knew how to have a good time.

When the Angel began to disappear from the damage done to its body, the witch jumped off and attached herself to the side of a building. This was only possible now because the moon had come out again.

It was like Bayonetta was on her own little planet, defying the laws of gravity.

She ran up and down, left and right, and sideways using **Witch Walk**. The sight would've made a mortal nauseous. Reaching the end of the road, the witch looked around for another exit.

Another explosion of lava opened a path for her.

A train came flying out of nowhere. Seeing a chance, she jumped on the train. The witch pushed through to the end of the train and made a makeshift door by shooting hundreds of bullets through the door.

Sticking the landing with a loud thump of heels, Bayonetta found herself in a cave. The cave exited to what she believed was a catacomb. Looking off to the left she noticed a red portal.

Rodin must've be waiting for her.

Stepping onto the portal, the witch was transported into _The Gates of Hell_. At the bar was Rodin pulling out a long case.

"Hey, Bayonetta try this baby out for size up there on them Angels. I finally finished making it from that disk you gave me." The bronze man greeted.

The only other person Bayonetta knew who got excited at the prospect of maiming angels, was Rodin.

At least they both had that in common.

Inside the case was a long katana blade. It was beautifully done and had an enticing aura about it.

Looked like Bayonetta had a new toy to play with.

Eager to put it to use, the witch traveled back through the portal and promised to bring Rodin another disk. Coming up from the ground, Bayonetta ended up where she came in from in the catacombs.

She saw another bridge on the other side of the cave.

The sight made her very anxious. It seemed every time Bayonetta crossed a bridge, she got attacked by something.

On the way to the bridge was an ancient portal-like object. Attempting to cross the bridge proved futile. As soon as the witch stepped on the bridge large rocks came out of nowhere and destroyed the bridge.

There was no way she'd be able to make it across now, the distance was too great.

Freaking bridges!

Bayonetta sighed at the world's machinations and turned back. She inspected the portal-object, seeing if it could be activated. The inspection was halted by the arrival of more tedious Affinities.

No matter her blade needed some practice.

Slicing them in half was like slicing butter. The defeat of the angels must have triggered something, because the portal-object suddenly activated. Bayonetta looked at the circular moon inside the object. She could see a completely different environment on the other side of the portal. With no other option the witch stepped into the portal.

Traveling inside the portal led her to an extraordinarily beautiful place.

Bayonetta stood on floating rocks with ruins around. What mystified her was the glowing grass and flowers that seemed to radiate pure energy. Everything around her just screamed heavenly. Even the air itself rang with soft melodies of music from a harp. All kinds of feathers and light traveled through the air.

"This must be the realm of Paradiso. I never thought I'd find myself here. I hope I don't get struck with lightning or something." Bayonetta muttered. For once her voice had none of its usual bravado.

Despite knowing she was a witch that belonged in Inferno, being here felt oddly comforting and accepting.

Bayonetta wondered why she didn't feel uncomfortable.

At the end of the floating stone were two familiar statues. This time it seemed Bayonetta wouldn't be walking on water, but rather jumping onto springs of water.

The process made the witch giddy. Bayonetta felt like she was a little girl playing in the water. She felt so light and happy.

On the next floating stone was a giant monument of a Lumen Sage and Umbra Witch. A strange object was floating in the middle, held by some force. Grabbing the lever she pulled it back, wondering what was going to happen.

Pulling the lever caused the monument to shatter and the object inside to fall into her arms. The object was an hourglass. A very large hourglass that required the witch to use two hands to hold it. The hourglass was pulsating with energy and rattling in her arms.

Bayonetta let it go.

The hourglass floated in the air and the energy cracked the glass. The air became still and the sky turned violet.

It looked like a mini galaxy. The light show ended and the monument repaired itself.

"It seems like that strange hourglass is able to turn back the sands of time. What once was broken is now whole again..I wonder if that power stays true in other dimensions as well?"

Bayonetta had an idea.

She pulled the lever again, grabbing the hourglass and made her way back to the portal. As if sensing her plan, the portal hummed and reflected the image of the catacombs.

Bayonetta stopped to look back at the heavenly atmosphere. A part of her didn't want leave. That part wanted to stay in this dimension that seemed so peaceful and full of beauty, but the witch knew she had to press on. Stepping through the portal brought her back to the hot cave.

The idea worked. The bridge repaired itself and Bayonetta crossed.

Of course, the bridge still collapsed after she made it to the other side. Crossing over another collapsing bridge, the witch had to repeatedly jump onto the next section before each section fell apart in order to avoiding dying by incineration.

Bayonetta heard something growling and the ground started shaking.

After she made it to the end of tunnel, she climbed her way out by walking alongside the walls.

Finally, Fresh air! Being outside never felt so good.

From where Bayonetta was standing, she could also see the city. It was completely engulfed in flames.

How awful.

The witch liked a little bit of destruction, but ruining entire cities was a little too much even for here.

Maybe she should try being a bit more careful during combat.

* * *

"My god! She decimated the entire city. I hope Cerezo was able to evacuate everyone…. Is all this really necessary brother?" Sigyn choked back her hysteria.

She had connected her mind to one of the Affinities. The spell allowed her to see what had become of the beloved city.

Vigrid was in flames.

The place they had called home for years was now gone.

Sigyn cancelled the spell and exited the mind of the Affinity. She turned around, facing her dear brother with a grim frown. She had no stomach for this kind of wanton destruction.

Her brother was over by his desk, tending to the cherry tree he treasured. Even in old age, he was still quite the imposing figure. Balder was their leader, their guide, so he had delveloped a certain air about himself. Gone was the gentle soul that loathed violence and mainpulation...some days Sigyn wondered if in his newfound cynicsm, if he reveled in these ugly machinations now.

His hair had changed over the long passage of time. No longer was it a bright brown, but a dull grey smoothed back from his pale face. His robes were silver and gold, befitting his status as a divine Sage. Attached to his back though, was the carcass of a pet peacock that used to be a favorite pet.

Sigyn fondly remembered a time when her brother would chase that peacock around in an effort to study it, so he could practice transforming into it.

"Fear not my, dear Sigyn. My son was able to direct the citizens to the trains before the battles began. What kind of father would I be, if I allowed any harm to come to my children." Balder spoke serenely.

Sometimes, Sigyn envied his tranquility. She could never stay calm in situations like these. Inside, her heart was racing. The woman couldn't stop pulling at the petals of the rose she had been given earlier. Every time she pulled all the petals out, the woman used a bit of magic to reapply them and start the game all over again.

Seeing her distress, Balder signaled her to approach him.

Standing next to him, the woman could see the shimmering gold mask he wore on the right side of his face. Every time she saw it, it made her think of the play they had gone to see about a phantom and an opera singer.

When Cerezo had seen the actor's mask, he laughed and told his father that he had a fan. Balder found the quip amusing and wondered if the playwright had met him before and drew inspiration from his mask.

That had been on of their rare days of joy.

"Here sweet sister, why don't you tend to the flowers? It might ease your mind." Balder passed her the pail of water he had been using to water the plants before walking away.

"Where are you going Balder?" Sigyn questioned.

Usually whenever she was unnerved, he would make her honeyed tea, but instead he was leaving her alone in his cold office.

"I shall be back momentarily, Sigyn. I must go now and retrieve my precious daughter, so that she may awaken to her true potential."

Before Sigyn could ask him what he meant by that, Balder had already walked into a portal.

He was always so cryptic with her now. Did he not trust her?

These last twenty years had changed him more than the last five-hundred.

Sigyn sighed pitifully. "I wish we could just go back to the years where we were a family. Rosa. Balder. Cerezo. Cereza. And me. We were so happy then, even though it was short-lived."

She started clipping some of the flowers off to take them down to the basement where the indoor garden was. It was time Sigyn visited Rosa's grave.

This could be the last chance she got before everything fell apart.

 


	6. The Cardinal Virtue

 

 

 

* * *

Elsewhere, a little girl moved the Bayonetta toy from the Holy City of Vigrid to the Observation Coliseum.

* * *

"You are most understood. Our fate is tied with the demon world, and we share your earnest interest in this matter. However, if she does not reach us alive, this conversation was all for naught." The hallowed voice was coming from above in the Coliseum.

Bayonetta finished up the lollipop before firing a round of bullets to get the flying creature's attention.

Whoever it was talking to could wait. Bayonetta's needs took priority.

"You again? And here I thought I'd seen the last of you." The Angel taunted.

Swiping a stray feather that had fallen from sky away from her face, the witch watched the monster slowly turn.

It looked like all that weight was making the poor boy slow.

"It is most kind of you to alleviate my need to search you out, Bayonetta. Please forgive me my prior trespass and lack of hospitality."

How astoundingly polite this angel was!

If it weren't for her ill taste for Angels in general, she might've let him go just for his great sense of manners.

"I'm sure you will be more than hospitable to me this time around." Bayonetta's sarcasm was lost on the dull creature.

"I have been informed that a survivor of the witch hunts is resisting our dominion. However, her inevitable reunion with hell makes her such a sad soul. If you are this pitiful being, then shall I release you from your torment?"

Fed up with the prolonged talking, the witch bit into her lollipop and fired another round of shots at its face. The impromptu attack finally got the motter-mouth to stop talking.

"I'm sorry. I forgot to mention one of the reasons I hunt your kind. You're much too ugly, not to put out of your misery."

The Angel started laughing as if she'd said something funny. Its laughter caused the sky and ground to tremble.

"Challenging us with the dark arts?! No matter the age, witches never learn.."

Again, she fired another round at his face. "Piss off, Feather-face!"

When would it stop talking and just fight?

* * *

**Audito Fortitudo**

_Dance around baby_

* * *

Bayonetta assumed he got fed up with her tarty attitude. A massive fireball was on course to hit her.

Thus began her method of running and dodging fireballs.

Her guns wouldn't be very useful in this fight. She pocketed them and pulled out the deadly new katana she received from Rodin. Once close enough to cut the bastard, Bayonetta elongated the blade so that it would reach the left dragon head. The witch got a clean cut, but it wasn't enough to take off entirely.

Fortitudo put some space between them and jumped onto the ledge of the coliseum. From up there he fired beams of fire that destroyed the ground it came into contact with. The intensity of the attack sent rubble flying everywhere.

Seeing an opportunity, Bayonetta used **Witch Time** to jump from rock to rock and reach Fortitudo. When she got close enough, the witch grabbed onto the left dragon and used the limb to send the Angel back to the ground.

Fortitudo was still stunned from the attack so she grabbed the dragon again and smashed it left and right on the ground. When it landed on the ground for the third time, Bayonetta grabbed onto its jaws and ripped them open, tearing the head clean off.

The Angel screamed in pain and swung its other arm at her, sending the witch flying into a column. The severed dragon was swallowed by demons from Inferno, who were eager for the heavenly blood.

Weakened by the loss of its arm, Fortitudo spit out lava that covered the ground in magma, leaving Bayonetta no way of getting close to the creature.

Looking around, she suddenly saw an hourglass floating in the air. It was a similar to the one she had found in Paradiso. Using the hourglass restored a bridge which gave the witch the leverage she needed to reach Fortitudo.

Once Bayonetta reached him, she gave the other dragon a taste of what its brother went through. Without either of its arms, Fortitudo was severely weakened.

Fortitude let out a mighty roar, releasing a wave of energy that demolished the coliseum. In the aftermath of the attack Bayonetta lost one of her spare lollipops. She rushed after it and managed to grab it.

The distraction allowed the Angel to attack the witch by swinging its tail. Bayonetta grabbed ahold of the limb and tossed the feathery prick into the air.

A demon was summoned to finish Fortitudo off.

"A GRAA ORS!" Bayonetta chanted.

The **Wicked Weave** activated, summoning a large black raven that repeatedly kept smashing its beak into Fortitudo's face until nothing was left.

"You know, you're not nearly so ugly when you're screaming." The witch teased mercilessly.

Satisfied that she had finally beat the shit out of the guy, Bayonetta treated herself to another cherry-rose lollipop.

"It was foretold…Your power…Incredible.."

The witch was taken off guard by the creatures mumbling. "Foretold?! Explain yourself!"

Her curiosity had been peeked, which was a hard to do.

"I, Fortitudo, am but a simple sacrifice for the resurrection of the Creator. May the creator Jubilees, grace you on your journey." Unfortunately, the angel was prevented from speaking anymore after demons from Inferno pulled him into the abyss.

How disappointing.

Bayonetta finished another lollipop and threw the stick away. She exited the ruins without a second thought.

**"My dear, sweet child…fear not, for I am watching over you…continue on your path."** That melody of a voice echoed in her mind again.

* * *

Elsewhere, the little girl moved the toy Bayonetta from the Observation Coliseum to the Pennetum Mountains.

* * *

"She fought better than I expected. The only aid I needed to provide her was the hourglass. I thought for sure she would need my assistance." Cerezo mummbled thoughtfully. "Such a shame that Fortitudo had to be sacrificed. He was always one of my personal favorites, so polite and obedient. But it was necessary for the eye..."

Above in the sky, the young sage watched Bayonetta, using peacock feathers to remain airborne. Surrounding him, was a flock of Affinities.

The Affinities were mourning the loss of their fellow brother by singing a tragic hym, detailing all of Fortitudo's glory. The song was beautiful.

"Fear not, my friends. His death shall not go to waste. Now bring the altered hourglass to me." The sadness in Cerezo's voice disappeared.

Flying forward, two Affinities lugged a giant hourglass towards their liege. This hourglass was special compared to the one Bayonetta had used in the battle.

Cerezo had developed it and spent years pouring magic into it. It was one of his prized creations.

While the smaller hourglasses were useful for quick binds, they did not have any actual worth when it came to fixing things. This new hourglass the sage had designed would function in the same manner as its predecessor, but on a larger and more permanent scale.

The sun shined through the clouds, giving Cerezo a boost in his light magic. Adding on to that power was the Affinities, lending him their magic to activate the hourglass.

The sage had learned the hard way that his magic wasn't enough to power the object correctly. Cerezo's ego took a huge hit after that experiment. The first time he'd tried to use it, he'd nearly killed himself from overexerting his magic.

Oh, how his Father had reprimanded him when he found out. The man brutally pummeled Cerezo in their next training session for the display of arrogance.

Slowly, the coliseum began to repair itself back to its original state with the hourglass breaking and turning into dust.

The process of powering the machine exhausted Cerezo and forced him to return to the ground to catch his breath.

Preserving the holy city was proving to be detrimental for his health. He'd already used four hourglasses. One after Jeanne crashed a plane in the middle of a highway. Two were needed to repair the actual city of Vigrid, but there were still areas that needed to be fixed. And now another hourglass on the coliseum.

Anymore massive scales of destruction would send him into a coma. He couldn't keep running around and cleaning up his sister's messes.

"My Liege, the Father is calling us. We must return. Allow us to carry you back." The two Affinities who had been carrying the hourglass had flown down beside Cerezo.

While the Affinities were the weakest of the angels, they could be depended on as loyal followers. The higher angels in the hierarchy tended to be more prideful and difficult to work with.

Too tired to fly on his own, the sage allowed the band of Affinities to carry him into the sky. The sounds of their flapping wings lulled him into a light slumber.

_"Cerezo!" A shout woke Cerezo up from his daydream._

_He was thinking about what to get Sissy for her birthday._

_"I'm sorry Daddy." The little boy said bashfully._

_He was sitting outside on the grass. Daddy had brought him out there to have a lesson on magic. He was trying to teach Cerezo how to properly use_ _**Beast Within** _ _._

_A few days ago the boy had accidentally turned himself into a half dog, half human._

_Cerezo had seen Daddy turn himself into an amazing white wolf to catch up with a demon. He wanted to be able to do that too, so the little boy tried turning into a wolf, but it didn't work out._ _For his troubles, Cerezo's human ears turned into dog ears and he grew a tail._

_Daddy freaked out when he saw it, but Aunty Sigyn thought it was the cutest thing she'd ever seen. The little boy had the tail and ears for two weeks because he couldn't change it back and Daddy said he just had to wait until the magic ran out._

_It was a really bad experience._

_The enhanced ears made it so Cerezo could hear everything all the the time. The increased noise gave him a headache to the point that sleep was out of the question. Worst of all, the tail always made him feel itchy._

_At one point, the boy couldn't take the itchiness anymore and ended up rolling around in the dirt to make it stop. Aunty Sigyn happened to see this. Cerezo made her pinky promise not to tell Daddy._

_Sigyn chuckled whenever she saw her nephew after that._

_The real icing on the cake was that Daddy wouldn't let him go anywhere out of fear. If any mortal saw Cerezo they would think he was a demon spawn and hunt him down._

_Trying his best, Cerezo focused on what Daddy was trying to explain._

_"In order to truly master the **Beast Within** , you have to diligently study the animal you are trying to become. You must learn the way it walks, the way it eats, the way it behaves, even the way breathes. By studying it, you become the animal. You my dear son, skipped all this and attempted to copy me with no prior training. Your arrogance works against you." Daddy's words were sharp and the boy could see his eyes glinting in anger. The right eye looked even scarier because of the monocle. _

_Cerezo felt like crying._

_All he wanted was to be just like Daddy. His father was his hero._ _One day the boy was going to be a powerful sage just like him. All he needed to do was get better at magic and listen to his elders._

_"I'm sorry Daddy. I promise I won't do that again. I'll ask you first next time." The boy promised, choking back his sobs._

_He couldn't help it, the tears came out anyway. Cerezo was crying so hard that he started hiccuping. The boy continued apologizing to his father, hoping he wouldn't be mad._

_Daddy let out a big sigh._

_"There, there, my dear, sweet child. Stop your tears. Daddy isn't mad at you, he just doesn't want to see you hurt." His voice was soft and gentle now._

_Cerezo's glasses were foggy now from his his tears._ _Daddy knelt down and removed the glasses to wipe the boy's tears._

_The little boy stopped crying, but was still shaking from his turbulent emotions. The father just sadly smiled and opened his arms. Cerezo didn't hesitate to jump into them and bury his face into his father's shoulder. Brown locks tickled the boy's nose._

_They both just sat on the ground, basking in the tranquility of the moment. Cerezo stayed in his father's arms even after he had stopped crying and shaking, just letting the man rub soothing circles on his back._ _At some point, Aunty Sigyn appeared and joined the two._

_The boy had never felt so warm._

_If only Cereza and Mummy were there too._

When Cerezo woke up he was laying on a bed, staring at the ceiling with blurry eyes.

Memories like that sill brought tears to his eyes. He felt someone wipe the tears away.

"My dear, sweet child, I hope you had a pleasant dream." Father smiled. The man was sitting by Cerezo's side.

He wanted to sit up, but was too tired to do so. The hourglasses wore him out more than he thought. Seeing Cerezo's struggle, Father pushed him back down.

"Rest now, my child. I merely came to check on you and bring you something to eat."

"You mean I brought him something to eat, Balder. I don't see a tray of food in your hands." Sigyn jested.

She came onto the other side of the bed with a tray of what Cerezo assumed to be soup from the smell.

Having Father and Aunt Sigyn fawn over him in this manner made him feel like he was a child again.

It was nice, but also silly. The young sage was a grown man afterall.

"Tray? Oh, you mean this tray, dear Sigyn?" Father's voice had a tint of mischief in it. The man snapped his fingers.

When Sigyn looked down the tray had disappeared from her hands and was instead in Father's hand. Cerezo quietly laughed at their antics and took the soup he was offered.

"Cerezo, before you fall asleep again, I think you should tend to Sola. She's in a fragile condition…and she's been asking for you. Our grand plans of salvation can wait till the morn." The young man could tell his Aunt wasn't asking.

The reminder made Cerezo feel guilt.

Bayonetta's arrival had caused him to neglect Sola in her time of need.

"Yes son. An unhappy wife is an unhappy life, remember those words."

Father would know all about that. The saying rang true for his first and only wife.

Once he finished the soup, Aunt Sigyn picked the tray up and wished him goodnight. Father followed her out, but held the door open for someone else.

Cerezo's petite wife entered the room as the magic users exited.

Sola was a peculiar little thing with her long copper hair and brown eyes.

The two of them had met when she was no more than a child. She was an orphan at the time and tried to kill herself by jumping off a cliff. Cerezo happened to be flying through the air when he saw her and drove after the girl. He had a long discussion with the child afterwards about not throwing away their life, especially not at such a young age.

The sage didn't think much of the encounter and never expected to see her again. However, fate worked in mysterious ways.

Somehow Cerezo ended up falling in love with her after many years of companionship.

Now, she was his wife.

"Cerezo, I felt her moving again." Sola said, trying to contain her joy. She was hesitant to show her excitement about impending motherhood around him.

Sola knew of her husband's doubts.

Cerezo let her climb into the bed and played with a strand of her hair. he had only just recently found out she was carrying his child, and a girl at that.

The thought of a daughter made the sage queasy.

He loved Sola and the child they had created and would never, ever turn his back on the child or its mother. Not after what his parents went through and how it affected him growing up.

Yet, the sage had to be honest. He was afraid of what a girl could mean for him.

Cerezo wasn't a pureblooded Lumen Sage like his father. There was Umbra blood in his veins from his mother.

What if his daughter turned out to have an affinity for the dark arts?

He'd have to raise her knowing that one day she'd have to sell her soul to the Inferno for her demonic powers. And worse, that her most basic instincts would compel her to hate him due to light magic coursing through his veins.

Light and dark were always enemies. That was how it had always been until Cereza and Cerezo entered the world, but even that had a bitter ending.

Cerezo's stomach was in knots. All this worrying was making him sick. Parenthood was a trial.

"I wonder if Father had these fears whenever he was with us?" The sage mummbled too softly for Sola to hear.

The long night continued on with him playing with Sola's hair until he fell asleep. Cerezo forgot about everything for a time.

No Bayonetta.

No Witches.

No Angels.

No Jubileus.

Just the child that was growing in Sola's womb. That was his only concern.

 


End file.
